A cable or wire raceway comprises at least one a conduit for conducting cables or wires along a wall, ceiling, floor, etc. (collectively wall). A typical raceway is applied along and extends along the wall. It has one or more passages extending through the conduit along the raceway through which cables, wires, etc. are conducted. At spaced intervals, the raceway may have cable outlets, typically in its outward facing, front side surface. An electrical device or data device to be supplied by one of the cables is attached to the raceway surface at an outlet and the cable exits the raceway outlet and is attached to the device there.
Many current raceways accommodate power cables or data cables, or a combination of both. By local building codes, power and data cables in a cable raceway often must be segregated. Therefore, many raceways are divided internally by a divider that extends along substantially the entire length of the raceway. This means that there are occasional interruptions in the divider. All divided raceways known to the inventor hereof are divided by a divider that is oriented horizontally, that is, perpendicular to the wall at which the raceway is mounted and spaced between the top and bottom walls of the raceway. A short length separator at an occasional interval, as is in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,322, does not satisfy the requirement for a divider that separates cables and that is useful for enabling vertical direction bending of cables, as described below.
Additionally, most raceway systems position power and data devices served by the raceway on or in the outer face of the raceways, which is the side of the raceway away from the wall on which the raceway is mounted. Positioning the power and data devices in this horizontal side of the raceway places emphasis on the depth of the raceway (distance from the wall) in direct relation to the raceway fill capacity, but more important, in relation to the capabilities of the raceway to accommodate many of today's (and tomorrow's) advanced data cables. The following example of cables is exemplary and not limiting as to the dimension and design of and the use of the raceway herein.
Today's data cables (Cat. 5e and Cat. 6, and soon 10-gig) have diameters in a range between 0.25-0.33″. The 10-gig cable, which will be used in the near-future, is 0.3″ in diameter, and has a specification that requires a bend radius of 4 times the cable diameter. So, the 10-gig cable needs a bend radius of 1.2″ not only when turning a corner in a room, but also when being attached to a data device affixed at a surface of the raceway.
The need to accommodate the 1.2″ cable bend radius at every data device on the raceway means that a raceway with devices facing horizontally and on the outer wall of the raceway would need to be a minimum of 3″ deep, and perhaps slightly greater. This need for depth is due to the data cables, not the power cables. The deeper the raceway is to achieve the necessary accommodation for the data cable bend for attaching to a device on the raceway, the more excess room exists in the neighboring power cable compartment of the raceway. Engineers and architects desire to maintain a pleasant aesthetic in their spaces. Installing raceways that are all 3+″ deep would be akin to installing a shelf into every raceway application. This may not be pleasing to a viewer.
No raceways now known to the inventor hereof have been built to accommodate 10-gig cables. The most popular multi-compartment (housing power and data) raceways are in the range of 1.75″-2.25″ deep. They will not accommodate a 90° bend in a 10-gig line.